Three ways you can help save our forests on Earth Day

three-ways-you-can-help-save-our-forests-on-earth-day

Disagreements are rife across the world at the moment, but at DocuSign we think one thing we can all agree on this Earth Day is the critical importance of to protecting  the world’s forests.

Rainforests are a great blessing to humanity. They bring life, they provide habitat, clean air, clean water -- Andrew Steer, CEO, World Resources Institute

DocuSign is naturally forest-friendly, since 2003 we have been helping hundreds of millions of people around the globe replace billions of sheets of paper with eco-friendly digital processes. As Dr. Jane Goodall says: “trees are like the Earth’s lungs”, they absorb carbon-dioxide and release oxygen back into the earth’s atmosphere. Forests both clean the air and give us the oxygen we breathe. Did you know, more than 20 percent of the world’s breathable oxygen comes solely from the Amazon rainforest?

Humans depends on rainforests for their very existence. 1.6 billion people depend on forests, for their food, fuel, livestock grazing and medicine. However tragically, half of the world’s tropical forests have already been cleared. If we continue at at this rate the world’s will be deforested by the end of this century. And, commercial deforestation accounts for 15% of global warming. As the forces of that global warming really begin to manifest themselves - particularly in the increasing frequency of devastating natural disasters - it becomes blatantly obvious why the role trees play is so essential in our environment, representing one of nature’s most critical resources.

“If we do protect the forests, it is the single quickest, biggest thing we can do to mitigate climate change.” Helen Clark, former NZ PM and Administrator, United Nations Development Programme

We can still have a positive impact on forests

One of the easiest ways for us t personally contribute to combatting this problem and saving our forests is to reduce the amount of paper we us. Everyday people sign agreements, like sales contracts, employee contracts, supplier contracts, and so on. And now everyday, millions of those contracts are signed electronically instead of on paper. We know this because increasingly they are being signed with a DocuSign eSignature solution, from the DocuSign Agreement Cloud. Since 2003, DocuSign and its customers around the world have replaced billions of sheets of paper with digital processes, which, in turn, saves the trees required to make paper. Every time one of those contracts is signed electronically rather than on paper we have helped to save a tree, together. Take a look at these numbers:

  • 20 billion - the number of sheets of paper DocuSign and its customers  have saved since DocuSign’s founding in 2003
  • 9 million - the litres of water needed to make that much  paper, plus nearly 50 million kilos of waste.
  • 7.26 thousand - the kilos of additional CO2 spared because all that paper wasn’t made

That’s not all we do to protect the environment. Through  DocuSign IMPACT: our  employees have given  thousands of their own hours volunteering for organisations  promoting the preservation and expansion of forests, including  urban forests, in the communities where  we work and live. In celebration of Earth Day in fact, DocuSign employees are volunteering with local environmental non-profit organisations in our local communities all over the world.

Additionally as part of our DocuSign for Forests initiative, we have committed to donating $1.5 million(US) in 2019 to organisations doing critical work to preserve the world’s forests. The first $1 million was donated to the Jane Goodall Legacy Foundation to support Dr. Goodall’s continuing fight to protect the planet’s resources.

So, what will you do today on Earth Day to help protect the earth's forests? You don’t have to donate millions, or even plant a tree (although it would be amazing if you did) :) But, if you could agree to just these things, you'd be helping to make a difference.

Three things you can do, to do your bit on Earth Day

  1. Read up on responsibly reducing your impact

Here are two useful links to help you incorporate forest-friendly and recycled products into your daily life: the Environmental Paper Network's Paper Purchasing Guide and the Paper Reduction Guide

  1. Be smarter about your paper usage

Here’s how to be smarter:

  • Before printing, ask yourself if it's really necessary. It's surprising how often you can do without.
  • If you print, use paper with high recycled content and labeled with a credible forestry certification.
  • Print double-sided and reduce margins and font size.
  • When you're discarding paper, recycle.
  • Use eSignatures! DocuSigning genuinely saves paper - which in turn reduces the need to use trees.

  1. Know your impact

Know your starting point on your journey to change. Find out how much paper and other resources you could be saving through solutions like DocuSign. To check your own impact, try our impact calculator.

If we can protect the rainforests, we can protect the world. -- Richard Branson, Chairman, Virgin United.
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